Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Donald Trump has already announced that he is running for president in the 2024 elections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems hot on Trump’s heels, scheduling trips to early primary states Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire, and otherwise looking like he will announce his presidential candidacy any day now. The possibility of a messy primary battle between them (and announced candidate Nimrata Randhawa a/k/a Nikki Haley, as well as other likely candidates, such as Mike Pence and Richard Pompeo) has some in the political press salivating over the potential for big ratings and readership. Democrats should also celebrate the possibility of a destructive Republican primary campaign.

As we’ve mentioned many times, the Republican Party is in a state of civil war. Sometimes the war is more hidden, and and other times it spills out into the open. In this case, Trump and DeSantis might have a few ideological differences, as can be expected. However, both Trump and DeSantis specialize in a fascist, dictatorial approach. For example, while Trump was in the White House, his press conferences were full of attacks on the (non-right wing) press. And in the ultimate wannabe dictator move, when Trump lost the 2020 election, he concocted the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him, and incited an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol to stop and reverse the counting of electoral votes that would certify Joe Biden as president.

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden once again rose to the occasion and gave an extremely effective State of the Union speech last night. But what was so successful, and perhaps unexpected, is the way Biden took apart the Republicans. The President did this in a deft, almost surgical way, alternating between touting his impressive accomplishments, pushing his Democratic agenda (something we have advocated here since Day One), and co-opting pro-American ideas that the Republicans falsely try to claim that they promote. Essentially, Biden set a trap for the GOP.

Most reviews and many posts and comments about last night’s State of the Union speech seem to focus on the ugly outbursts from a small number of House Republicans in the audience. That’s just what those attention-seekers want. Instead, a good exercise is to avoid the videos of President Biden’s speech (too late if you already watched it last night, of course), and read the transcript in the second link above. What you get is an impressive picture of patriotism, an appeal to unity, and some good sharp contrasts with the Republicans. Here are some memorable lines and passages from the speech, which paint a clear picture of what President Biden accomplished: